Contra Callers
This mailing list welcomes contra dance callers and people who are interested in learning about calling for contra dances.
Our goal is to support each other by:
- Asking and answering questions that are of interest to contra dance callers.
- Discussing issues that come up as callers.
- Sharing resources that are helpful in calling for contra dances
- Plan and announce caller gatherings and learning opportunities.
We discuss a wide variety of topics – the following are just a few examples to give you a taste!
- Sharing individual dances and asking for help identifying dances.
- How to effectively teach certain dance figures.
- Calling for different audiences (e.g., visually impared; a room full of brand new dancers)
- Sharing new resources that come out for callers (e.g., websites; books; etc)
New callers are especially encouraged to send questions to the group and learn from those with more experience -> we all started as beginners and even experienced callers have lots to learn!
Special Note: This list welcomes occasional discussion relating to other dance traditions. However, Shared weight has two other lists that you might be interested in as a caller.
- The tradcallers list focuses on traditional squares, community/barn dances and other trad dance forms outside the contra dance and ECD realm. (This includes teaching in schools and other settings with youth.)
- The ECD list includes conversation about calling for English Country Dance.
– Seth Tepfer, list admin
(Seth Seeger & Chris Weiler are the list founders)
From Seth Seeger & Chris Weiler (list founders): After a wonderful callers workshop at CDSS’s Pinewoods American Week in 2004, we decided that we wanted to try to keep the class going on in some way. We hoped that we could still draw on the support from Tom Hinds and the other experienced callers as well as their knowledge. To that end, we created the callers e-mail discussion group to discuss contra and traditional square dance calling.
Note: As of 2026, Seth Tepfer is the new admin/moderator for this list.
The list admin/moderator is Seth Tepfer.
You can subscribe to the contra callers list in one of two ways:
- Signing up for a free groups.io account prior to subscribing.
- Subscribing without creating an account.
Creating an account takes a few more steps but they are quick and having an account has definite advantages. This includes that you can manage your Shared Weight messages (e.g., sign up to receive the digest version – helpful if you want to limit the number of emails in your inbox)
Follow these steps to subscribe with an account:
- Visit https://sharedweight.groups.io/g/main/subgroups
- Select the list you want to join.
- Click ‘Sign Up’ in the top right corner. Then follow the instructions to create an account.
- Check your email inbox and follow the instructions in the confirmation email.
- Once you are logged in, click on the list you want to join and then click ‘Apply for Membership in This Group’.
- Fill in the form and submit
- Once the list moderator has approved your subscription, you’ll be added to the list.
- Check out our technical FAQ page.
Follow these steps to subscribe without an account:
- Visit https://sharedweight.groups.io/g/main/subgroups
- Select the list you want to join.
- Click the ‘Apply for Membership in This Group’.
- Fill in the form and submit
- Once the list moderator has approved your subscription, you’ll be added to the list.
If you have questions about joining, email the moderator – Seth Tepfer.
The contra callers archive is public.
You can view past posts by visiting this link.
If you have technical questions about how the list works, please check out the technical FAQ page. If you still haven’t found the answer to your question, email the list moderator – Seth Tepfer.